School group heading to Taiwan youth conference

Students from Margaret River Senior High School will represent WA for the first time at the upcoming NTPC MAGIC International Youth Conference in Taiwan this week.

Led by MRSHS International Relations Coordinator Angela McCoy, students Will Dallimore (Year 11), Lara Sharpe (Year 10) and Lily Field (Year 10) will travel to Taiwan this weekend.

The trio have been meeting and working on their project during recess and lunch breaks.

Wanting to bring a local flavour to the task, they chose to examine ways to reduce emissions in the wine industry.

The students created the ‘Vineyard Vacuum’, a device that captures and stores carbon dioxide produced during the wine making process.

“We know that local wineries are very interested in sustainability, so it made sense for this to be our focus too,” Will Dallimore said.

The device extracts carbon dioxide from fermentation tanks and then stores it for re-use in the winery.

“Fermentation produces a large quantity of carbon dioxide, so if we can capture some of this for other uses it helps reduce the overall carbon footprint of our wine,” Lily Field explained.

The students said that ease-of-use and cost were also important considerations in their design.

The forum will include displays from schools from across Taiwan, as well as other countries.

In addition to presenting their idea at the forum, the students will be undertaking activities with ‘sister schools’ and staying with local host families during the visit.

“It’s going to be an amazing experience,” Lara Sharpe said.

“It’ll be great to share our idea, but also to experience life in a different country.”

The students and Ms McCoy will be accompanied by MRSHS Principal Andrew Host, and project instructor Alex Temby.